Guess How Much I Love You
by underthegreensward
Summary: Dinner, bathtime and books with Paige, Emily and their kids.


Turning her key in the lock, Emily pushes the front door open and lets the grocery bags sink to the floor carefully to slip out of her jacket. "I'm home!" She can hear soft voices coming from the kitchen, the clattering of dishes being put into cupboards and the sound of the radio. The smell of food reminds her that she is starving, so she kicks her shoes off and picks the bags up again.

"Hey. You're home early." Paige is kneeling in front of the stove, checking on whatever it is she's making. "Yeah, I know. How was your day?" She sets the bags onto the kitchen counter and takes Paige's hand to pull her up and into a kiss. "Good. I got someone to buy the house on Winklerstreet." She kisses her again.

"That's great! How were the boys?" she asks, walking over to the kitchen table, where one of them is sitting, focused on his crayon that is making circles all over the paper. "Good evening, mister." He looks up at her with big green eyes and waves, crayon still in hand. "Hi mommy." Then he is back to drawing and she can't help but press a kiss on top of his head.

"Well, _he_ was perfect. Jonathan... not so much." Paige huffs, unpacking the grocery bags. Emily runs her hands through Adrian's hair with a frown. "What did he do?" Turning around, Paige leans against the kitchen counter and looks over at her. "First he didn't want to pack his toys away, then he stole a toy car from his brother and when Adrian asked him to give it back he hid it and then he poured an entire bottle of shampoo in the sink."

"Why did he do that?" Paige lifts her hands, shaking her head, before she grabs some salad out of the fridge and starts washing it. "I don't know, but his birthday is coming up, he always gets a little cranky when he's excited."

Before Emily can agree, she catches a glimpse of white socks and black curls in the doorway. Knowing what's about to happen, she leaves her son sitting there and gets a red pepper from the fridge to slice it.

"Em? What are you doing?" She hushes her, motioning to the door and Paige understands. The patter of tiny feet reaches their ears, a very quiet "I'm sorry, Ade." following. They look over to the table, just in time to see Jonathan handing the toy car to his brother with a sloppy kiss on the cheek.

Turning back to her pepper, Emily tries her best not to melt. Paige isn't doing any better, a smile taking over her face that widens even more when someone is hugging her leg. "I'm really sorry mama." Emily can barely hear the words mumbled into Paige's jeans, but it's enough for her to know he means it.

Paige crouches down, asking "You're sorry for what?" He looks down and Emily can feel Paige giving in slowly. She gets it, she would give in too. "For being mean to Ade and for not packing my stuff away and for the mess I made in the bathroom." Paige pushes his hair back and gets him to look up again. "Apology accepted. Just one more question: Why did you sacrifice the shampoo?"

"It was stinky." he says, like it's the most obvious thing in the world and Emily has to keep herself from laughing. "Next time you don't like the smell of something just tell us, okay?" Paige manages to say with out giggling, kissing his forehead.

He nods and takes off to hug Emily, squealing "Mommy!". She picks him up, looking at him, his arms looping around her neck. "Hey there, big guy! Are you gonna help me set the table?" He nods again, his curls flying everywhere and wriggles out of her arms. "Adrian, could you please stop drawing? Dinner is almost ready."

Adrian looks up from his drawing and glances at Paige, nodding before he puts the crayons neatly into a box, climbing from the chair to the floor. He tries to grab the things on the table, but his hands barely reach the edge of it. "Here, I can help." Jonathan walks up behind him and hands him sheets of paper and the box, getting a thankful smile in return.

After the table is set and the lasagna ready, Emily lifts Adrian onto his chair again, tying a bib around his neck. He doesn't like them and usually he doesn't need them, but lasagna is messy and he is wearing his favorite shirt.

She sits down, putting a piece of lasagna and some salad on each plate, while Paige pours water in everyone's glasses. When she sits down, Jon exclaims "Yum!" and digs into the food. Emily cuts Adrian's for him, listening to Paige and their son talking about his adventure's in kindergarten this morning. "Lexie and me build a sand castle that was bigger than Ade!"

"Oh, yeah and then what happened?" Jonathan answers, his mouth stuffed with food and no one gets a word of what he's saying. "Jon, swallow first. Then talk.", she tells him, finally taking the first bite of her lasagna. "Sorry. Gavin fell into it, so we played jungle.", he says with a shrug.

"Let me guess: you were a sloth!" He starts giggling and shakes his head. "No mama, sloths are boring! I was a monkey!" Paige slaps her hand against her forehead, with an exaggerated groan. "How could I guess that wrong? Of course you were a monkey." She's an amazing mom and Emily's heart flutters every time Paige proofs it again.

Then, she looks over at Adrian, who hasn't said anything yet, completely occupied with eating, and whispers "Wait, monkeys are the big, gray animals with the trunk and the big ears, right?" Jonathan laughs and shoves another fork into his mouth.

His eyes widen and he swallows the salad he's been chewing on. "Mama, you okay?" he asks, putting his tiny hand on Paige's face, frowning a tiny frown. "Yes. Why? Is that not what a monkey is?" Shaking his head furiously, he keeps his hand where it is. "That's an elephant." His voice is serious, almost too serious for a two and a half years old boy, but when Paige laughs, blowing a raspberry into his hand and he laughs back.

* * *

"You give them their bath and I do the kitchen?" Paige asks her softly when they're done eating. "Sure, as long as you join us for story time." A kiss is pressed just below her ear. "I wouldn't miss it for the world." It's cheesy and silly and it still makes her fall for Paige after all these years. "Good."

"C'mere, pirates and get ready to set sail!", she yells, walking up the stairs and into the bathroom. One son is already half naked, the other one is stuck in his shirt, one arm still inside the sleeve, his head nowhere to be seen. "Jon, have you seen your brother's head?" She gets a grin from him. "Nope." Letting the bathtub fill, she helps him with his pants, then pulls off Adrian's shirt. "Found it."

Jonathan sits on the edge of the tub and lets his feet dangle in the water. "Good." When she has freed Adrian of all his clothes, he walks to the tub and glances at the little waves his brother makes. "I do not like water, Mommy." He rarely speaks, but when he does, it's almost always in complete and correct sentences.

"That's okay, but you still need to take a bath, you know that right?" He nods and stares into the tub again. "Can I get in now? Pretty please?", Jon asks with pleading eyes. "Sure, but don't splash too much, I don't want Adrian to get upset." Sliding into the tub slowly, he smiles. "Okay."

Lifting Adrian up and into the water, she strokes his hair back. "I'll be really quick with you, okay?" He nods again and shuts his eyes tightly. "Jon, could you hand me the cup please?" He thrusts the cup into her hands and is back to maneuvering his ship around. "Thank you."

She lets the water run over Adrian's head, shielding his eyes with one hand. As she reaches for the shampoo bottle, she remembers what happened to it and groans. "Jon, I need one of the shampoo bottles behind you." He hands her one and she glances at it. "I guess you're gonna smell like vanilla tonight.", she mumbles and begins washing his hair.

He doesn't fuss. That used to be different, but he seems to have learned that fussing only makes it worse. She pours another cup of water over his head and uses a washcloth to clean his body. "All done, buddy." He gets up and waits for his towel. She wraps him up, lifts him into her arms, pressing kisses to his face until he starts giggling and then some.

"Can I help?", Paige asks from where she is leaning against the door frame. "Get their pajamas and help him brush his teeth?" Without a word, Paige pushes herself away from the wall and disappears into the hallway. Emily puts Adrian down on the floor and rubs the towel over his skin.

When Paige returns, she takes over, slipping him into his giraffe pajama and getting his toothbrush ready, while Emily washes Jonathan's long curls. "Mommy, can I stay in here for a little longer?" She knew this was coming. "What's the magic word?" He rolls his eyes a little, but adds a "Please?", so she lets it go.

"We're ready, so we're gonna go snuggle til story time.", Paige announces and she pouts. "Save some for me, please." Rolling her eyes just like her son, Paige kisses her pout away. "Of course."

She plays pirates with Jon until he's all pruny and the water is cold. He dries himself off, puts his monkey pajama on and brushes his teeth without any complaint, but when Emily moves to comb his hair he flinches and it takes her some convincing to get him him to hold still.

"Let's join your mama and your brother." She catches the last two sentences of 'Guess how much I love you' and smiles, because Adrian speaks them with Paige, just like he always does.

Jonathan flops down next to his mama and cuddles into her, watching his brother slip out of the bed to grab the next book. When Emily sits down he climbs into her lap and hands her the book he picked out.

Emily finds herself wishing for this moment to never end.

* * *

She reads the last page and looks down at her son, who studies the pictures and letters intently. Jonathan is already snoring lightly next to her. "I guess being a monkey is really exhausting." Paige whispers, playing with a lone curl, before she carries him over to his own bed, tucks him in and kisses his forehead.

Emily gets up and does the same for Adrian, whose eyes are slowly dropping close. She finishes with "Sweet dreams, sweetie." and a kiss, then walks over to give Jon his goodnight kiss. Paige is waiting for her at the door and switches the light off as soon as she is next to her. "They are asleep.", she hums, taking Paige's hand. Paige just nods and drags her into their bedroom.

* * *

They lie together in the silence of their bedroom, Emily's head resting on Paige's chest, exchanging slow kisses every now and then.

Running her hand up and down Emily's back, Paige breaks the silence. "Em? Guess how much I love you." Emily smiles into her shoulder and props her chin up on it. "Oh, I don't think I could guess that." Paige turns to lie on her side to kiss her. "I love you right up to the moon." She laughs and kisses Paige back. "I love you right up to the moon and back.", she whispers , kissing her one more time before settling in for the night.

She never thought that this was what she wanted from life, but feeling herself fall asleep in her wife's arms, with two healthy kids sleeping soundly down the hallway, she doesn't want to change a single thing.


End file.
